![]() However, he was assigned to Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario, for the next few years, as an instructor at the Artillery School. He was especially interested in the First Nations, and spent his time in the West learning from them and the Métis. Steele had long been fascinated by the West, devouring the works of James Fenimore Cooper in his youth. ![]() ![]() The following year he joined the Permanent Force artillery, Canada's first regular army unit. Much to his disappointment, he arrived after the Métis had surrendered. Steele also participated in the Red River Expedition in 1870 to fight the Red River Rebellion of Louis Riel. By the age of 13 he was orphaned, and went to live with his elder half-brother, John Steele.įollowing his family's military tradition, in 1866 Steele joined the Canadian Militia during the Fenian raids, first joining the 35th Simcoe Battalion of Infantry and after moving to Clarksburg (near Collingwood) was commissioned as an officer in the 31st Grey Battalion of Infantry. Steele received his education at the family home, Purbrook, and then at the Royal Military College of Canada. Steele was named for his father's uncle, Colonel Samuel Steele, who served in Quebec under Lord Amherst. Neil MacDonald was a grandson of Captain Godfrey MacNeil of Barra, and a nephew of Colonel Donald MacNeil. His mother (his father's second wife), Anne Macdonald, was the youngest daughter of Neil Maclain MacDonald of Ardnamurchan, a native of Islay. He was an officer of the North-West Mounted Police, most famously as head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush, and commanding officer of Strathcona's Horse during the Boer War.īorn into a military family at Medonte Township, Province of Canada (now Ontario), he was the son of Royal Navy Captain Elmes Yelverton Steele, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, and one of six brothers to have served in the British Armed Forces. Major General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele KCMG CB MVO (5 January 1848 – 30 January 1919) was a distinguished Canadian soldier and police official.
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